Surgical and dental procedures, including for example orthopedic surgery, ENT/neurosurgery, trauma surgery and oral surgery, as well as other, frequently require use, by the doctor or nurse or other assistant, of various gas or liquid handling devices at the operating site, or wound.
Such devices include various pressurized gas operated tools for cutting, boring, etc, which are normally gas operated rather than electrically operated to avoid electric shock and explosion hazards. Other devices are used to supply liquid to the operating site, for example to cool the bur or cutter of the tool, to irrigate the wound for removal of debris and clots or to otherwise clean the wound, as well as for other purposes. In addition, suction devices are frequently employed to remove unwanted material from the wound, such as excess irrigation liquid, blood, and other flowable debris.
In some instances it may be necessary or desirable to employ all of these devices at a single operating site, or wound. This has raised certain difficulties in the past. For example, it has been common in the past to use liquid supply devices, for irrigation or tool bit cooling, in the form of refillable bulb syringes. Typically, the operating nurse is constantly filling and refilling bulb syringes and passing them to the surgeon. This raises the risk of contamination due to multiple pass offs and the lack of a closed fluid pathway and the difficulty in calculating or recording the amount of liquid used in irrigation and retrieved in suction. On the other hand, the surgeon carrying out the procedure may be faced with the need to simultaneously control the tool, coolant flow, irrigation flow and suction, aside from the need to control placement of the various devices with respect to the wound. Thus the surgeon may have to rely on other to handle at least some of these devices, with attendant inaccuracy in timing and placement, an excessive number of hands in a crowded surgical field, and an excessive number of devices, tubes, hoses and support items at the operating site. Moreover, the use of bulb syringes as a source of cooling or irrigant liquid deprives the doctor of the option of pulsed, steady rate or drip irrigation.
Accordingly, the objects and purposes of the invention include provision of:
A fluid flow control system permitting simultaneously two-handed control of cutting or boring tool operation, cutter coolant liquid flow, pulsed or other type irrigation flow, and suction, permitting the surgeon to himself handle all of these functions simultaneously.
A system, as aforesaid, in which sensing of gas pressures at a console remote from the operating site controls delivery of irrigant and coolant liquid to the operating site and in which the liquid supply path is in each instance through a continuous and unbroken tube from supply container to operating site to minimize risk of contamination.
A system, as aforesaid, in which all liquid supply and debris retrieving devices and tubing are disposable.
A system, as aforesaid, in which all pneumatic and electrical control circuitry is disposed in a console remote from the operating site and no electrical wiring extends to the operating site.
Other objects and purposes of this invention will be apparent to persons acquainted with apparatus of this general type upon reading the following specification and inspecting the accompanying drawings.